The head of Iran’s judiciary signaled Wednesday there would be fast trials and executions ahead for those detained in nationwide protests despite a warning from U.S. President Donald Trump. The comments from Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei come as activists had warned hangings of those detained

As waves of protests have tested the Iranian regime’s ability to manage dissent, the country with arguably the most to gain has been waiting in the wings, reluctant to intervene even when its regional adversary is at its most vulnerable point in years.

A source inside Iran who was able to call out told CBS News on Tuesday that activist groups working to compile a full death toll from the protests, based on reports from medical officials across the country, believed the toll was at least 12,000, and possibly as high as 20,000.

Iran eased some restrictions on its people for the first time in days as the death toll from days of bloody protests against the state rose to at least 2,571 people, according to activists.

Iran has deployed new techniques to swiftly and decisively crush nationwide protests, signaling a tactical shift by a regime that now views domestic dissent as an extension of the summer war with Israel.

U.S. embassy urges Americans to leave Iran immediately as deadly protests escalate, with over 600 reportedly killed in anti-government demonstrations.

The death toll from nationwide protests in Iran spiked Tuesday to at least 2,000 people killed, activists said, as Iranians made phone calls abroad for the first time in days after authorities severed communications during a crackdown.

"The conditions in Iran today are not comparable to those that precipitated the downfall of the Shah and the triumph of the revolution of 1979," writes Narges Bajoghli

President Donald Trump billed strikes on Venezuela earlier this month as being about drugs, gangs invading the United States and law enforcement – i.e. arresting indicted leader Nicolás Maduro. But of late,